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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150532">wait for me (come spring i'll come to you)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorIdiot/pseuds/DoctorIdiot'>DoctorIdiot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stardew Valley (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Friends to Lovers, I will be adding tags as I go, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, Slow Burn, and he's so oblivious oh my god help, buckle up bitches this is going to be a long ride, im the writer and im yelling at them to hurry tf up, it's mutual but this is mostly from Harvey's pov, the burn is so slow you guys</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:22:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150532</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorIdiot/pseuds/DoctorIdiot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Harvey startled, and nearly dropped the bag of coffee beans. The farmer looked amused at his awe of the farm. Like his grandfather, Val had warm eyes and a stern kind of face. He was older than the townspeople had estimated him to be. Instead of being around the age of the young bachelors and bachelorettes in town as expected, he seemed closer in age to Harvey.</p>
<p>The man tilted his head, still smiling. At this angle, the rays from the setting sun hit his face just so, and his skin glowed.</p>
<p><em>Wow</em>, thought Harvey, <em>Old Man Jones’s grandson sure is beautiful.</em></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harvey &amp; Maru (Stardew Valley), Harvey/Male Player (Stardew Valley), Harvey/Player (Stardew Valley)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>wait for me (come spring i'll come to you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this absolute self indulgence of a fic was initially planned to be around like. a one-chaptered, 10k word long fic. but then harvey kinda took the wheels from me and he hasn't given it back. i'm at 10k words now and they haven't even gotten together. harvey told me its about the <em>yearning</em>. the <em>longing</em>. and i said you know what you're absolutely right! god why are us gays like this</p>
<p>so now i'm splitting this into a few parts. </p>
<p>i also told myself i was only going to upload this when i'm fully finished. so that was a lie ! pray to god that i will finish this monster</p>
<p>this isn't beta'd and i proofread it myself at 4 in the morning so if you see a mistake, you don't. just pretend you do not see. you are looking away. you cannot see.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Old Man Jones, as they all had taken to calling him, passed away in winter, on a Monday just a week before the new year.</p>
<p>He had been sick for a while before going away peacefully in his sleep. It didn't come as much of a shock to anyone in town—despite this, however, the air of mourning was far from absent.</p>
<p>Jones was a great farmer, and he helped them all a lot. According to Harvey’s late mother, who Harvey inherited the clinic from, the farmer had started off grumpy when he was Harvey’s age. The nickname he got when he was Harvey’s age, too, referring to his grumpy-old-man-like behaviour rather than his actual age at the time. He had only gotten more sociable the more years added to his lifespan, so each of the townspeople were on friendly terms with the old man. Then again, when there was barely over thirty people in town, it's hard to keep distant.</p>
<p>The nickname stuck.</p>
<p>Great farmer or not, age takes its toll on everyone, and it slowed the farmer considerably. His produce had been less and less every coming year. While he was much healthier than average at his old age, it didn't mean he was capable of all the physical work put into tending a farm.</p>
<p>Eventually it came to the point where he couldn't care for his farm anymore. He sold all his animals, and stopped growing crops entirely.</p>
<p>When his kidney started giving him problems, the farm became completely abandoned and the barn and coop fell into disrepair. Without the proper care, the field overgrew with weed, wildflowers and even trees started to grow from wayward seeds.</p>
<p>Being the one and only doctor in town, Harvey was the one that treated Jones. He tried his best, but there were only so much he could do. He brought up the idea of admitting Jones to a hospital in the city, but Jones had valiantly protested, insisting that he'd like to spend his last days on his beloved farm instead of surroundings he was unfamiliar with.</p>
<p>Jones had also declined Harvey's desperate offer of staying at the clinic. It was with a heavy heart that Harvey acquiesced to the old man's wish.</p>
<p>The year Jones died, Harvey had gotten closer to him than anyone else had. He had—worried about his patient—made it his responsibility to drop in at least every other day to check on the man. On his visits, he brought with him food that the villagers passed on to him.</p>
<p>It was perhaps a combination of this and the inevitability of one’s own death looming just around the corner that prompted Jones to tell Harvey more about his golden boy of a grandson.</p>
<p>He had told them all about Val before, in multiple occasions. The kid seemed to be his pride and joy. He had always wanted a son, but only had daughters, therefore he treated his grandson like the son he never had. The whole town knew that he wished so badly that his grandson would take over the farm one day, to carry on the Jones' Farm legacy.</p>
<p>Whenever Harvey came to visit, Jones would unfailingly regale him with stories or news about his grandson. More often than not Old Man Jones would be prattling about <em>my boy this </em>and <em>my boy that</em>.</p>
<p>As a result, Harvey knew too much about this person who he'd never even met before. He knew what the young Jones likes (<em>coffee, cats and… pirates?</em>), his pet peeves (<em>unwanted advice and people with no common sense</em>), and what he's like (<em>too much like the old Jones himself</em>).</p>
<p>Once, when Harvey came to visit a little later at night than usual, he found Jones writing a letter to his grandson. He'd written that while it is stated in his will that the farm would be left to his grandson, the young Jones was not obliged to tend to the farm. It was surprisingly contrary to his spoken hopes and dreams of Val carrying on the legacy of the farm.</p>
<p>“I do hope that Val would come here and take care of this farm,” he’d said, at Harvey’s surprise. He looked distant, miles away from the valley, from the sealed envelope in front of him, somewhere unknown to Harvey. “But for him to do that, something would have to drive him out of the city. I want him to be here and happy, Harvey, but I don’t want him to be here if he’d be unhappy.”</p>
<p>“Wait, drive him out of the city? What do you mean?” Harvey asked, because he couldn't comprehend what exactly the man was trying to say.</p>
<p>Jones met Harvey's eyes, and he smiled. Despite the appearance of the crow’s feet, set deep in his skin, the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “My boy loves the city and he’s a stubborn workaholic, that’s all,” he said.</p>
<p>“Don’t you worry your head about it,” Jones added disarmingly, when Harvey had been silent for too long. “Just an old man rambling, don't mind me.”</p>
<p>Harvey didn't believe him at all, but he let the matter rest.</p>
<p>When Harvey was going out to head home, Jones followed him to the door.</p>
<p>“Harvey, son,” he called out, effectively stopping Harvey at the bottom steps of the house. Harvey turned to face the other man, who was lit by the light inside. “Would you… that is to say, would you do me a favour and promise me something?”</p>
<p>“Sure, what is it?” Feeling bemused by the sudden question, Harvey shoved his freezing hands into his coat pocket and shifted from foot to foot. The winter chill was uncomfortable to breathe in.</p>
<p>“If Val moves into town, promise me you’ll take care of him.” Jones’ stare was as piercing as the cold. His face was as stern as it ever was, wrinkles clearly lining it. His warm eyes are hard and unwavering.</p>
<p>“Of course I will—”</p>
<p>“Please <em>promise</em> me that,” Jones pleaded, something wild just barely concealed within his expression. The despair in his voice was one of someone who knew he was leaving a loved one behind, and worried greatly for them.</p>
<p>Harvey stood taller, then, as he took in this observation. He looked into the eyes of a dying man and said, solemnly, “I promise that I will take care of him.”</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Two years passed after the old Jones's passing with no word whatsoever from the grandson.</p>
<p>The townspeople has long since ceased expecting him to come at all. They thought that perhaps Val was too much of a city person that he wouldn't want to just up and leave his life behind. They were rather divided on their opinions about the matter.</p>
<p>Most of the younger ones in the town were more understanding. They knew the allure of the city, and some wanted to move there themselves given the chance.</p>
<p>“Good for him,” said Haley once, when they were talking about it over their monthly bachelors and bachelorettes dinner. “If I were living in the city, I sure wouldn’t ditch everything to come to this dull town.”</p>
<p>Some of older villagers, though, felt as though it was the grandson's responsibility, and not dropping everything just so he could take care of the farm was seen as shirking that responsibility.</p>
<p>Harvey thought about the late Jones' words about being afraid of what would drive his stubborn grandson out of town and that maybe he would be unhappy here. He thought that perhaps it was for the better that the young Jones haven't moved to the valley.</p>
<p>Then, when word about the mystery of a grandson died down, and the townspeople no longer thought about him—be it with approval or hostility—the news came.</p>
<p>Mayor Lewis had gathered everyone up a few weeks before the new year. It wasn’t snowing, but the cold was particularly biting.</p>
<p>With the sort of glee of a child on the Feast of the Winter Star, the mayor announced that the young Jones would be moving into the farmhouse and taking over the farm on the first day of the new year.</p>
<p>There was a clamour of mixed reactions, but amongst it all was the shared undeniable curiosity of meeting the person whom the farmer they all respected speak of with so much pride in his voice.</p>
<p>Robin was given the task of greeting Val at the bus stop and showing him to the farmhouse. Harvey found himself agreeing to the choice. Robin was superb at putting people at ease, and conversation with her always went smoothly.</p>
<p>She was pestered by all sorts of requests and questions to forward to the new farmer when she met him.</p>
<p>“Let's not overwhelm the man and drive him off back to the city on his first day, okay?” Robin said reasonably.</p>
<p>They grumbled among themselves, but backed off when Robin promised them she'd tell the new farmer to come greet everyone at his own pace.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Apparently, to Val, ‘his own pace’ means pretty fast.</p>
<p>By day three of being in town he was acquainted with everyone.</p>
<p>By week three he had already managed to tide everyone over. Any grudges held against him for not immediately dropping everything and moving in to take care of his grandfather's farm disappeared into thin air.</p>
<p>During Evelyn and George’s appointment with Harvey, Evelyn gushed over Val as if he were her own grandson. Even George—who had initially been the most disapproving of the farmer—grudgingly admitted that he made a pretty respectable farmer, which was a high complement coming from him.</p>
<p>By the near end of the spring, Maru kept talking about Val as if they had been friends forever.</p>
<p>Val appeared to be getting along well with everyone in town. It's good for the farmer, really.</p>
<p>However, there was an uneasiness that stirred in Harvey, building steadily with every passing day, because, well. Val’s list of ‘everyone’ didn't include Harvey.</p>
<p>He didn’t know why this is, and it drove him crazy. Harvey didn't know where he misstepped, but ever since his first meeting with Val, he hadn't seen him around anywhere.</p>
<p>He thought that maybe he wasn't the only one who hadn't seen Val at all, so he had developed a habit of asking people he meets after the farmer. Each and every one of them told Harvey that they don't go more than three days without seeing the farmer.</p>
<p>In his mind, he kept going over their first meeting, to see if he made a blunder, or if maybe a sign popped over his head screaming THIS MAN IS A HUGE NERD WHO MAKES MODEL PLANES RUN AWAY RUN AWAY.</p>
<p>He was pretty sure no such thing happened. He remembered introducing themselves to each other, and Val had said, “See you around!”</p>
<p>Then proceeded to disappear completely from Harvey's sight up until now and counting. It wouldn't have been strange, but it was an extremely small town. Probability pointed to the fact that he should've—at least once—caught a glimpse of the new farmer's striking white hair.</p>
<p>But... nothing.</p>
<p>It had been good, Harvey thought, to finally put a face to the stories Old Man Jones told him. And it was a very handsome face, not given enough justice by the few blurry pictures the late farmer showed him. (The Val in the pictures had a head of dark hair, so the white-haired man who greeted him was a surprise. He pulled it off well.) Now, though, the short bit of interaction sent Harvey’s mind spiralling into a panicked frenzy of overthinking.</p>
<p>He sighed, attention going back to the reports on his patients on the counter in front of him. The pathetic sigh caught Maru's attention from where she was going through the stock of supplies, and she fixed him with a look.</p>
<p>“Tired already?” she teased.</p>
<p>Harvey took off his glasses and rubbed at his face. “No, it's not that,” he said, putting his glasses back onto its original perch.</p>
<p>“What's got you so moping, then?”</p>
<p>He sighed again. He loathed to admit that the farmer’s presumed avoidance bothered him more than it should. It embarrassed him to feel this way, especially when everyone has the right to befriend or not to befriend whomever they want. More so when he couldn’t even confirm that Val was really avoiding him. But the words were loose on his tongue, and when prodded by Maru, they spilled over.</p>
<p>“I think the new farmer is avoiding me,” he admitted in a rush of breath.</p>
<p>Maru paused in her assorting of supplies and blinked at him. “Val? Really? What makes you think that?”</p>
<p>“Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that I haven't seen head or hair of him since he introduced himself to me when he first moved here,” he snapped, annoyance starting to build up inside him. The irritation was directed more towards himself than anyone else, but nevertheless it gave his words a sharper edge. The look of surprise Maru gave him at his uncharacteristic anger displaced the annoyance instantly, and guilt replaced it. He deflated. “I’m sorry, Maru, I didn't mean to snap. I’m not angry with you, I’m just angry with myself.”</p>
<p>It was true. He was so tired of second-guessing himself, more so because he’s trying to see himself from the perspective of a man he didn't know. A man that Maru kept talking about as if he hung the moon. He was tired of hearing about Val from everyone else but not being able to know for himself. He was exhausted of knowing so much of Val, but being unknown to the farmer.</p>
<p>Maru stared at him for a while, her gaze assessing, before going back to her assorting. “Why don't you talk to him about it? You know, clear the air. Maybe he's not actively avoiding you, and he's just haven't had a chance to talk to you.”</p>
<p>His first instinct was to wave away the suggestion, but turning down Maru’s suggestions without considering them was a move that he would call absolutely foolish. Maru had great ideas, and he wouldn’t ignore them for the world.</p>
<p>“How am I going to talk to him if I don't even see him?”</p>
<p>Maru stopped her check and gave him a look that said: <em>you’re a dumbass</em>.</p>
<p>“Harvey, you know where Val lives.”</p>
<p>He wasn't going to lie, that had crossed his mind before. “I know that, but it just seems a little intrusive.”</p>
<p>“Oh my God.” Maru made a noise of frustration and face-planted into the front counter.</p>
<p>“Harvey, this whole town is just a glorified neighbourhood. You and Val are practically neighbours, like the rest of us are. It’s not stalking to knock on a neighbour's door, you know.”</p>
<p>Maru had a point, but he remained unconvinced.</p>
<p>“How about this,” Maru started, lifting her head from the counter. “You come up with an excuse, drag your ass up to his house, and for the love of God, talk to him? Please, if not for yourself then for me?”</p>
<p>“Fine,” he relented.</p>
<p>“Yes!” Maru threw her head back and her arms up in victory.</p>
<p>"Don't talk to your boss like that, though, you might get fired," he joked, smiling at Maru. She returned the smile with a grin.</p>
<p>Maru snorted and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “As if. You <em>need</em> my help. Without me here you’ll crash and burn.”</p>
<p>He laughed at that. “Probably.”</p>
<p>Maru may have been kidding, but she really was right. Without her, he most likely wouldn’t survive.</p>
<p>She put her hand out towards him, her little finger extended. “Pinkie promise me you'll talk to him about this, tell him it’s bothering you?”</p>
<p>“Promise.” Reluctantly, Harvey extended his own little finger and curled it around hers. They shook on it. Maru nodded in satisfaction.</p>
<p>“Do you think he'll be at home this evening?” Harvey asked, because if anyone would know, Maru would, given that she seemed close to the farmer.</p>
<p>“I think he will be? You should check the help wanted board. If it's clear then he’s usually on his farm in the evenings.”</p>
<p>And that was how he found himself in front of the help wanted board the very same evening, cradling a bag of coffee beans like an idiot. The coffee would provide as an excuse to visit. Which he apparently would indeed be doing today, because—like a sign from the divine—the board was clear.</p>
<p>He took a deep breath, and started walking the familiar path towards the farmhouse, as he had done so often two years ago.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>When the path opened up to the farm, he stopped in his tracks.</p>
<p>In place of the wildflowers and overgrown weed that he'd gotten used to was the sight of a well-tended farm. Multiple types of spring crops were planted in a number of plots with sprinklers in the middle. There were a lot of plots for parsnips that looked like they were on the verge of harvest. He realized that he’s looking right at the source of “<em>fresh parsnips from the new farmer</em>” that Pierre had been selling all month. There was also, if he were seeing correctly, potatoes, kale and cauliflowers.</p>
<p>Wait. <em>Was that… a cauliflower as big as he was tall? What? </em>Harvey blinked a few times, to confirm that he was seeing things correct. He was. <em>What?</em></p>
<p>Alien-sized cauliflower aside, the crops looked like they were growing beautifully. The plots were cordoned off by wooden fences, and alongside the fences were full-grown tulips of varying colours. Further down the field of the farm, there were still weeds, wildflowers and scattered trees. It was clear that those parts had not yet been revamped, but would be in the future. The farm looked as if it were in a state of transformation from something abandoned to something beautiful. The sight squeezed at his chest. It was amazing how much progress had taken place in so little time.</p>
<p>Old Man Jones would have been so proud of his grandson.</p>
<p>Lost in his awe, he hadn't realized that the man behind the progress was sitting on the front steps of the house, staring at him.</p>
<p>“Hello, doctor,” the man called out casually.</p>
<p>Harvey startled, and nearly dropped the bag of coffee beans. The farmer looked amused at his awe of the farm. Like his grandfather, Val had warm eyes and a stern kind of face. He was older than the townspeople had estimated him to be. Instead of being around the age of the young bachelors and bachelorettes in town as expected, he seemed closer in age to Harvey.</p>
<p>The man tilted his head, still smiling. At this angle, the rays from the setting sun hit his face just so, and his skin glowed.</p>
<p><em>Wow</em>, thought Harvey, <em>Old Man Jones’s grandson sure is </em>beautiful<em>.</em></p>
<p>He flushed red at the thought and shoved it down further into the recess of his mind where it would never see the light of day.</p>
<p>“May I help you?”</p>
<p>“Uh,” Harvey said intelligently. He stepped forward to get to a comfortable talking distance from the farmer.</p>
<p>Val brought a hand up to his face, and Harvey's eyes lands on the cigarette between his fingers. He saw Harvey looking, and pausing his hand midway, asked, “Do you mind?”</p>
<p>“Uh,” Harvey said again for the second time that evening. He did mind because he despised cigarette smoke with every fibre of his being, but he wasn’t going to say so. He was a guest, and an uninvited one, at that. “No,” he lied. “It's your house, after all.”</p>
<p>“Hm.” Val observed him for a while, then put out the cigarette in the small bowl acting as a receptacle on the steps next to him.</p>
<p>A brief flash of <em>who brings a cigarette receptacle out with them to smoke nowadays oh my God</em> runs through Harvey’s mind, before he realized Val put out his smoke because of him. “You didn't have to do that,” he said, scratching the back of his neck self-consciously.</p>
<p>Val smiled at him. The smile seemed to be a recurring theme with him as much as being speechless was Harvey’s.</p>
<p>“I won't infect anyone else's lungs with the risk of cancer but my own.”</p>
<p>Harvey frowned at that, the doctor in him very strongly wanted to tell Val that he shouldn’t be putting his own lungs at risk either. Before he could say it aloud, Val interrupted him.</p>
<p>“You didn't answer my question, doctor.” At Harvey's blurry look, he elaborated, “As to what do I owe this visit? Not that I mind it.”</p>
<p>“I brought you some coffee beans.” He shoved the bag of coffee towards Val. Inwardly, he cringed. The excuse seemed flimsy in face of the farmer. But he thought it was better than to give him, say, more fruit and vegetables.</p>
<p>“Why, thank you,” Val said, as he stood to retrieve the bag. He inspected it for a while and then beamed at Harvey. This smile was bigger than the amused ones he got earlier; it stretched across his face, showed his teeth and actually reached his eyes. The sight sent Harvey’s heart into a frenzied state. “I appreciate this a lot. I love coffee.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” Yes, Harvey knew that. He knew that because Old Man Jones told him that before. The late Jones had told him how Val liked coffee since he was nine years old and his grandmother made his first coffee for him. But Harvey had forgotten, because holy shit the man was really good looking.</p>
<p>“Um, you're welcome. Actually, um.” Harvey didn't want to say anything else. He wanted to bid Val goodbye and run home and scream into his pillow because Jones didn’t tell Harvey that his grandson was this handsome. But he had pinkie promised Maru, and he didn't want to break it. “Have you been avoiding me?” he blurted out, getting straight to the point because he knew that if he didn't, he'd never get to it.</p>
<p>“Ah.” The smile dropped from Val's face. Harvey felt strangely disappointed by that and had the urge to do anything to make him smile again.</p>
<p>“Would you like to come inside?” Val gestured to the house.</p>
<p>“Uh, sure.”</p>
<p>The inside of the house looked mostly the same as when the late Jones inhabited it, only more empty, perhaps. Harvey wasn't trying to snoop, but the house had no rooms, so everything was out in an open space. There was, Harvey couldn’t help but to observe, a distinct lack of memorabilia from Val's life in the city.</p>
<p>“You can hang up your suit jacket there,” Val gestured to the coat rack beside the door. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” He lifted up the bag of coffee, and Harvey was sorely tempted, but he had an early day tomorrow.</p>
<p>“No, thank you,” he declined as he shed his jacket and hung it up. “Early morning tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Val nodded in understanding. “Me too. Some tea, then?”</p>
<p>“Oh, yes, that would be nice, thank you.”</p>
<p>Val waved him off to sit at the table, and started a kettle.</p>
<p>While waiting for the water to boil, he leaned one hip against the countertop, hands in his pockets.</p>
<p>“I see now how you must've thought I was avoiding you,” he began.</p>
<p>Hidden underneath the table, Harvey started fidgeting his hands.</p>
<p>“I can’t deny that and say that I wasn’t.” Val was not looking at Harvey. Instead his eyes roam and land everywhere that was decidedly <em>not</em> Harvey.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Harvey breathed. It was one thing to assume that Val was avoiding him, but to have it confirmed, well, it stung a little. Scratch that, it stung <em>a lot</em>. His heart felt heavier, as if it had turned inside his chest from flesh and blood to stone and molten steel.</p>
<p>It must’ve shown on his face, because Val was quick to continue. “Please don’t misunderstand, doctor. None of this is your fault,” Val looked Harvey in the eye as he said this, his posture straight, as if wanting to command him to believe that.</p>
<p>Harvey wanted to, he really did, but the poisonous part of his mind whispered, “<em>Look at that, Harvey, you managed to drive off the golden boy grandson by just one interaction! Congratulations!”</em></p>
<p>Val was about to say something, but the kettle let out a shrill shriek. He turned to turn off the stove and prepare the tea. A tense sort of silence blanketed the air. All of Harvey’s muscles were poised to run away at the very moment. He glanced at the window dolefully, judging whether or not he could throw himself out of it to escape. His mind kept piling on the list of <em>Why the Golden Boy Does Not Like You</em>.</p>
<p>“How do you take your tea, doctor?” Val asked from the kitchen area.</p>
<p>Harvey’s chaotic train of thoughts screeched to a halt. He took a second to process the question. “With a healthy amount of milk and a teaspoon of sugar,” he said finally when his brain caught up to the question, cheeks heating at how long it took for him to answer.</p>
<p>If Val noticed his lapse, he didn’t say anything. Heading towards the table, Val then set the two mugs of tea—one with milk and one without—on the table. He took a seat opposite Harvey.</p>
<p>“I’m very sorry that I haven’t been a very good neighbour to you.” The farmer’s long fingers flutter over the mug’s handle. He was staring into his tea. “I’ve been getting to know the other townspeople and I’ve pretty much singled you out. It’s unfair to you.”</p>
<p>“It’s okay.” Harvey cradled his own mug and looked into his own milky tea. The tea offered him no answers.</p>
<p>“It <em>isn’t</em>,” Val sighed, “and I’m sorry, I really am.”</p>
<p>“Why were you—” Harvey cut himself off. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know.</p>
<p>“Why was I…? Why was I avoiding you?” Val guessed. His face morphed into an expression that Harvey is familiar with, self-depreciation. “Unfortunately, I can’t answer that right now. However, I can tell you that it had been two very long years since my grandfather died. That’s no excuse, though.” He covered his face with his hands, and mumbled something incoherent that Harvey couldn’t understand. He lifted his head from his hands and met Harvey’s eyes. “I swear to you that I’ll be a better neighbour after this, okay? I’ll be the newcomer farmer that you deserve.”</p>
<p>“If you…,” Harvey hesitated. “You don’t have to go out of your way, not if you… don’t like me, or—or something.”</p>
<p>“No, I really do enjoy your company,” Val assured. “This evening tells me as much. Even though now I hope that it was under better circumstances.”</p>
<p>“You do?” Harvey asked, doubtfully.</p>
<p>“I do. You seem to be a good man, doctor.” Val shot him a strained smile. “I should tell you not to expect me at the clinic, though.”</p>
<p>At Harvey’s questioning look, Val said, “I’ve developed a… phobia of sorts to medical spaces. It’s quite pathetic, really, because logically I know there’s nothing bad there.” Val chuckled wryly.</p>
<p>“No!” Harvey defended, then coloured slightly because his voice was louder than he meant for it to be. “It’s not pathetic. Phobias are irrational, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t valid.”</p>
<p>It was quite hypocritical of him to preach that, especially when he himself sometimes felt pathetic over his own phobia of heights. Val looked taken aback by his vehemence.</p>
<p>“You can find me at Pierre’s, the saloon, the museum or the park sometimes,” Harvey said quickly, feeling embarrassed from his defensive outburst.</p>
<p>Val recovered from his surprise. “Thanks, doc. I’ll keep that in mind.”</p>
<p>The farmer kept looking at him with a sort of gaze that softened the sharp edges of his features, and Harvey busied himself finally drinking the tea. It was really good. Despite the heaviness of Val’s stare, the weight on Harvey’s shoulders were lifted, and he could breathe easier.</p>
<p>They talked of everything and nothing as they finish their tea together.</p>
<p>When Harvey was ready to return home, the evening had bled into night. Val offered to accompany him on his walk home, but Harvey declined. The farmer needed his rest, and he could manage his way from the farm to the clinic on his own.</p>
<p>He fell asleep that night dreaming of white hair, amused smiles and giant cauliflowers.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>guess where they meet next time! if you guess correctly you win *drum rolls*....... my love :D</p>
<p>regarding the fuckin uhhhhh giant cauliflower</p>
<p>i started this fic like Okay ! i'm gonna make this as Realistic as possible! but then halfway through i was like nah man. where's the fun in that. so now u have the giant cauliflower. life is Good. i'm going crazy in quarantine.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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